YAISHWARYAJ: Load shedding returns with vengeance

Loadshedding returns with vengeance

Khalid Iqbal
Friday, March 08, 2013
From Print Edition

Islamabad

No relief from the menacingly long spells of power outages is sight as the entire country is once again in the grip of severe load shedding. Rawalpindi, Lahore, Gujranwala, Multan, Quetta, Peshawar, Islamabad, Sukkur, Sibbi, Nawabshah, Faisalabad, Mardan, Wazirabad and other cities and towns across the country face 14 to 18 hours of unscheduled load shedding even in the month of March.

The city-wise power outages are listed below:

Sialkot 18 hours; Rawalpindi 10 to 12 hours; Gujranwala 18 hours; Lahore 14-hours; Multan 16 hours; Quetta 14 hours; Peshawar 12 hours; Sukkur 14 hours; Faisalabad 16 hours; Wazirabad 18 hours; Mardan 14 hours; Islamabad 8 hours; Sibbi 12 hours; Vehari 18 hours; Zafarwal 18 hours; Narowal 16 hours and Shakargarh 16 hours.

Some 10 days back, the entire country plunged into darkness as six power plants, including Chashma power plant, stopped producing electricity. President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf took action and formed a committee to probe the issue within a week.

When ‘The News’ tried to contact Federal Secretary Water and Power Rao Sikandar, his Senior Personal Secretary Jameel Ahmed said the secretary has strictly ordered him not to shift any call of media persons to him. He suggested ‘The News’ should contact joint secretary Zerghan Khan who is the official spokesman.

But Zerghan Khan did not take the call. Last time he told ‘The News’ these units were unable to generate power because of absence of gas and oil. He said six power plants — Chashma, Orient, Saif, Sapphire, Hallmore and Rouche — had not been generating power for several days because of unavailability of gas and oil. Secondly, he said, hydel production had dipped causing long hours of power outages in major parts of the country.

He hoped the situation would improve in a couple of days. “We need 9500MW of electricity, while we are still facing a shortfall of more than 2500MW,” Zerghan Khan had then said.

All Pakistan Traders Association President Shaikh Muhammad Saddique said that the industrial sector of any country always plays an instrumental role in not only earning foreign exchange but also in providing job opportunities but unfortunately long hours of load shedding has destroyed each and every thing.

In this age of severe competition when most countries are providing concessions and incentives to their industrial sectors, in Pakistan the picture is very bleak because every day we face long hours of load shedding, imposition of taxes and increase in petroleum and electricity prices, he said.